The following _is said_ to be the substance of Lord Mansfield’s speech in the case of Somerset and Knowles: “We pay due attention to the opinion of Sir Philip Yorke and Mr. Talbot in the year 1729, by which they _pledged_ themselves to the British Planters for the legal consequences of bringing Negroe-slaves into this kingdom, or their being baptized;” which opinion was repeated and recognized by Lord Hardwick, sitting as Chancellour, on the 19th of October 1749, to the following effect: He said, “that Trover would lay for a Negroe-slave: that a notion prevailed, that if a slave came into England, or became a Christian, he thereby became emancipated; but there was no foundation in law for such a notion: that when he and Lord Talbot were Attorney and Solicitor General, this notion of a slave becoming free by being baptized prevailed so strongly, that the Planters industriously prevented their becoming Christians: upon which their opinion was taken; _and upon their best consideration they were both clearly of opinion_, that a slave did not in the least alter his situation or state towards his Master or _Owner_, either by being christened, or coming to England: that though the statute of Charles II. had abolished Tenure so far, that no man could be a _Villein regardant_; yet if he would acknowledge himself a _Villein_ engrossed in any Court of Record, he knew of no way by which he could be entitled to his freedom, without the consent of his Master. We feel the force of the inconveniences and consequences that will follow the decision of this question: yet all of us are so clearly of one opinion upon the _only_ question before us, that we think we ought to give judgment without adjourning the matter to be argued before all the judges, as usual in the Habeas Corpus, and as we at first intimated an intention of doing in this case. The only question then is, _Is the Cause returned sufficient for the remanding him? If not_, he must be discharged. The Cause returned is, the _slave_ absented himself and departed from his master’s service, and refused to return and serve him during his stay in England; whereupon, by his master’s orders, he was put on board the ship by force, and there detained in secure custody, to be carried out of the kingdom and sold. So high an act of dominion must derive its authority, if any such it has, from the law of the kingdom _where_ executed. A foreigner cannot be imprisoned _here_ on the authority of any law existing in his own country. The power of a master over his servant is different in all countries, more or less limited or extensive; the exercise of it therefore must always be regulated by the laws of the place where exercised. The state of slavery is of such a nature, that it is incapable of being now introduced by Courts of Justice upon mere reasoning, or inferences from any principles natural or political; it must take its rise from positive law; the origin of it can in no